"Monster" [ft. Justin Vernon, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj]

GOOD
/
Island Def Jam

Artists:

"Monster", a product of Kanye West's mysterious Hawaii studio-retreat, is the weirdest A-list event-rap posse cut in recent memory. There's so much going on here! Kanye says, "put the pussy in a sarcophagus". Jay-Z, in a vaguely embarrassing senior moment, rattles off a laundry list of movie monsters before admitting real hurt feelings at former associates talking down on his name and claiming that his achilles heel is-- and I'm quoting here-- "loooooove!" Rick Ross drops by to say hi, keeping his appearance so brief that I can't help but wonder what he's even doing here. Justin Vernon inexplicably bookends the thing, pushing his falsetto into Antony range on the outro and muttering befuddling lyrics that have nothing to do with the rest of the song. All this over the straight-up funkiest beat Kanye West has made in years, a rippling electro push-pull that adds an effortless strut to his recent progged-out chilliness.

But all that other stuff fades into the background when Nicki Minaj shows up. Nicki's been a magnetic, polarizing, scene-stealing figure for something like a year, but her masterfully manic verse here feels like the moment where she becomes a full-on star, an undeniable force in rap. She's a whirlwind of energy, showing her full repertoire of nutso voices and kicking the living fuck out of the beat, sounding like she's having an absolute blast the whole time: "Yeah, I'm in that Tonka, color of Willy Wonka! You could be the king but watch the queen conquer!" Kanye knows just how to treat a tour de force like this, dropping the beat out at the exact right moments, adding pinging echoes on the "pink wig, thick ass" part, letting everything stop for the eardrum-shattering scream she ends with. Nicki swallows the track whole. More like this, please.